OSS Architecture for Flexible and Efficient Process Control

Network Service Providers (NSP) use Operations Support Systems (OSS) to improve telecommunication operations make principal business processes more efficient. Many OSSs have been implemented that are based on workflow systems. Workflow-based OSSs help reduce the lead-time. However, workflow systems inevitably include exception processes, which are hard to deal with. Telecommunication operation process flows are often changed to provide new services, and these changes cause many exception processes, which cannot follow a pre-defined flow. An exception process increases the total cost of business processes. Therefore, a radical solution is needed to deal with exception processes, and many researchers have attempted to find such a solution. However, their attempts have been unsatisfactory in terms of flexible telecommunication operations. One suggested approach involves using an allocation method with a Constraint Satisfaction Problem (CSP) to support various work patterns in Optical Access Network (OAN) resource allocation. This approach is superior to other workflow-based approaches in regard to flexibility. Nevertheless, certain efficiency-related problems exist if this approach is to be applied to a working system. We propose an OSS architecture that can handle processes both efficiently and flexibly. This architecture is based on an approach using a CSP and includes functions that solve the efficiency problems. We also considered the system architecture needed to use this approach and implemented a prototype system for OAN resource allocation work. This system confirms the efficiency and flexibility of our approach.